Dozens feared dead, search for missing after Laos dam collapse

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Rescuers searched in difficult conditions on Wednesday for the people of the world.

State media shown pictures of villagers, some with young children, stranded on the roofs of submerged houses. Others made villagers trying to board wooden boats in Attapeu province, the southernmost part of the country.

A senior official Lao government, who declined to be identified because of the media, said dozens of people were feared dead and remained unaccounted for after the hydropower that was under construction collapsed on Monday.

"We will continue with rescue efforts today but it is very difficult, the conditions are very difficult. Dozens of people are dead. It could be higher, "the Vientiane-based official told Reuters by telephone.

The Southeast Asian Country, one of the world's few remaining communist states, has an ambitious dam-building scheme in order to become the "battery of Asia".

Its government depends almost entirely on its predecessors.

Environment rights groups have repeatedly warned about the human and environmental costs of dam construction, including damage to the already-fragile ecosystem of the region's rivers.

Attapeu is a provincial agricultural area that borders Vietnam to the east and Cambodia to the south.

The dam that collapsed is part of the Xe-Pian hydroelectric power Xe-Namnoy power project, which involves Laotian, Thai and South Korean firms. The subsidiary dam, known as "Saddle Dam D", was part of a network of two main dams and five subsidiary dams.

South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction said to be a small source of supply and was cooperating with the Laos government to help rescue villagers near the site.

An official at the firm said fractures were first discovered on the damn Sunday and that the company had evacuated 12 villages as soon as it could clear the dam could collapse.

Brian Eyler, director of the Stimson Center's Southeast Asia program, said it could be "worse in terms of devastation" than that of a main dam.

"With a saddle dam breaking, it is not possible to divide again, which is one option, or until the reservoir is drawn down. to a level below the breach, "Eyler told Reuters.

"This is yet another major shock to Laos' plan to become the battery of Southeast Asia," he said.

Tholakhong, a Lao language news site, said on Tuesday the water levels on the gauge in one of the affected villages showed a decrease of 79 cm (31 inches).

Laos dam collapse: tmsnrt.rs/2mFy8mA